


Lord Bane´s Murder Mysteries - An unholy Christmas Part 3

by Katy_777



Series: Lord Bane´s Murder Mysteries [6]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: 1920s, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries Fusion, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Police, Private Investigators
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-05 10:45:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15862056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katy_777/pseuds/Katy_777
Summary: With the end of World War I, a new era was born. An era full of glitz and glamour. Life was a seemingly never-ending party. Magnus Bane is a distant relative of the royal family. He has a title, wealth, a penchant for extravagance and he never gets tired of getting himself into trouble. He´d travelled the whole world in order to see and learn new things, only interested in parties, excesses and adventures behind your wildest imagination. At least that´s what most people think. But in reality, Magnus tries to escape his past and the unsolved mysteries surrounding the tragic events of his childhood. As Magnus decides to return home to New York after years of travelling, he doesn´t only find a new adventure in solving mysterious murders as a private investigator, but he also finds new friends and partners in Detective Inspector Alec Lightwood and his police constable Simon Lewis. The more time he spends in New York, the more he finds himself a new home, and with his new home, he forgets about the past that haunted him for so long. But that doesn´t mean that his past has forgotten him as well. Will Magnus be able to solve the greatest murder case of his life, or will he just end as a murder victim himself?





	1. Chapter 1

„You have to help me find her. Lord Bane?”, she asked insecure as she noticed the expression on his face, “Are you okay? Will you help me?”  
Magnus wanted to answer her, really. He wanted to say something. Anything. But he wasn´t able to form a full sentence. Hell, he wasn´t even able to form a thought that was longer than two words. His head was empty, his heart racing and his breath became heavier and faster again.  
He was only able to breath out one word, one name, as he stared into the brown-grey eyes of the girl with the brown curls that stood in front of him, pleading for his help.  
She looked so different, and yet she was so familiar to him.  
“Tessa.”

10 years ago…  
It was late in the night when her father woke her up and brought her out of her aunt´s mansion. It was a clear night. There were no clouds covering the sky and the moon and the stars were shining down on them. There was even a cricket chirping in one of the shrubberies. Under different circumstances, Tessa would have been excited to discover the area at night. She and her older brother Magnus would have then made stargazing, or they would have tried to catch the cricket with one of the jars out of the kitchen. But Tessa was tired. She was walking next to her father, her small hand holding his big, strong hand and it costed her a lot of strength to keep her eyes open. Besides, she was wondering: her father seemed different tonight. Normally he would play with her or tell her stories or count the stars with her. But tonight, he was quiet. And his grip around her hand was stronger than usual.   
“Where´s Magnus?”, Tessa asked, looking up but her father didn´t react. Instead, he was simply looking straight forward. Just the fact that he squeezed her hand for a second showed her that he´d actually heard her question.  
“Where are we going?”, she tried again, her voice becoming more insecure.  
There was another squeeze. But no look, no answer, no other reaction.  
“Father?”  
Then he stopped, finally looking down at her. He gave her a reassuring smile but his eyes were telling a different story: they were filled with sadness.  
Tessa was pretty sure that she´d never seen such an expression in her father´s eyes.  
“Fath-“  
“Everything´s gonna be fine, Tess.”, he said, still trying to smile, even though he didn´t feel like smiling at all. “You´re gonna be safe.”  
By now they had reached the end of their aunt´s entry. The gates were open and there was a car parking on the street, and next to it:  
“Aunt Harriet!”, Tessa exclaimed, happy and surprised.  
“Hello Tess.”, her aunt said smiling, but her face seemed tensed as well. And there was a boy standing next to her, Tessa noticed. He had blond hair and blue eyes.  
“Asmodeus.”, her aunt said as she looked up at her father, “Is this really necessary?”  
“Believe me, Harriet: If I would have another chance, then I would take it. But there is none.”, her father sounded so desperate. What was wrong?  
“You could go to the police.”, Harriet pointed out, “Tell them about Azazel´s mania.”  
“Then I would risk a huge scandal. One that wouldn´t stay unavenged. I would risk the life´s of everyone I love.”  
“Have you told my sister about this?”, Harriet asked, her voice starting to become softer. She had seemingly noticed how hard that was for her brother in law.  
“No.”  
“What do you mean: No? Will you ever tell her at all?”, Harriet demanded.  
“She´s a bad liar. That was one of the things I´ve always loved about her. She wouldn´t be able to keep it a secret, but this has to stay secret. The young lady Tessa Bane has to die tonight. At least I need everyone to believe this. It´s the only way to keep her away from Azazel and Mortmain. That is why I need you to take care of her. And to leave us. For Tessa´s sake.”  
“And Magnus?”, Harriet asked, causing Tessa to widen her eyes.  
Magnus? Her big brother? What was with him? And what were they talking about?  
“He has to believe that she´s dead as well. If he really mourns her death, then it will appear more convincing to others.”  
Why was her father always talking about her death?  
“You will break the boy´s heart.”, Harriet gave Asmodeus a reproachful look, “Blood related or not, he´s my nephew as well. I don´t wanna see him heart-broken.”  
“You will only see him like that for a short moment.”, Asmodeus argued, view lowered, “Then you will vanish and never see him ever again.”  
“You can´t be serious!”, Harriet became furious.  
“Believe me, I don´t like that as well. But we have to do it.”  
“Won´t Magnus be in danger as well?”, Harriet asked, deciding that a discussion with her brother in law would be useless.  
“No.”, Asmodeus sighed, “Thankfully not. He´s not one of Mortmain´s so-called `chosen-ones´, he´s not one of his angels. So he won´t have to fear him or his uncle Azazel.”  
Tessa looked up at her father with big, questioning eyes. Her father´s lips were tightened, nearly not seeable anymore. And his grip around her hand has tightened as well.  
“I still can´t believe that my brother is so illusory that he actually believes the things that are coming out of Mortmain´s mad mouth.”  
“Will you stop him?”  
“I will try to find a way.”, Asmodeus confessed, “But not as long as Tessa is around. I need to know her safe.” He took something out of his pocket that looked like a little package, handing it over to Harriet who eyed it confused. “This is enough money for your restart. Actually, for several restarts, to be honest. In case that he should ever manage to find you.”  
“Asmo-“  
“Just promise me that my daughter will have a good life.”, He swallowed hard, the sadness and desperation in his voice becoming stronger. “Promise me that she will be safe. And that you will keep her away from New Yorks elite, from us, from Magnus.”  
Harriet looked at him for a long time, the tears of sadness in her brown-grey eyes shimmering in the moonlight.  
“I promise.”

Now…  
“Do you know me?”, the girl asked, giving him a confused look.  
Magnus snapped out of his trance. “I´m sorry?”, he said, fighting against the urge to rush forward and hug her tight.  
“You´ve just called me by my first name. How do you know who I am?”, the girl demanded.  
“Do you know who I am?”, Magnus asked careful.  
The girl, Tessa, rolled her eyes. “You´re Magnus Bane. You´re a distant relative of the royal family and a Lord. You´re working as a private investigator. My aunt is in danger. I need your help to find her. That´s why I´m here.”  
“So that´s how it is, huh?”, Magnus muttered. Tessa had no idea who he was. Who he was to HER. She had no idea that he´s actually her older brother. Has she forgotten it? Well, she was still very young when she went missing and that was ten years ago. No wonder that she didn´t recognize him, that she didn´t remember him. But it still caused his heart to ache…  
“What do you mean by this?”, Tessa gave him a questioning look, a mix of curiosity and suspicion covering her face.  
“Nothing.”, Magnus lied, “Why don´t you come in. We can talk inside.”, he offered, feeling like his heart would jump out of his chest every second. He tried to act normal, but he knew that he must seem totally nervous. And Tessa had noticed that as well.  
“Why are you behaving like this?”, she asked, hesitating to enter his home.  
“I-“  
“My aunt warned me to never trust someone from New York´s upper class. And especially to never cross paths with you. But I´ve thought… now that she got kidnapped… and you… you don´t seem to be a bad guy… Sophie meant you weren´t a bad guy… and I trust Sophie… but you act strange.”  
“It´s not what you think.”, Magnus said fastly. He couldn´t risk scaring her away. He couldn´t risk losing her again.  
“Then what is it? What is going on here? Why are you behaving like this?”, she clenched her jaw. She was so sick of everyone keeping things secret from her.  
“Tessa, please, come in first. Let´s sit down and talk ca-“  
“No!”, she gave him a serious look, “I want to hear it here and now!”  
“Te-“  
“Why?”, she demanded again, and as Magnus considered a moment too long if this would be the right situation to tell her the truth she turned around, attempting to leave.  
No. He couldn´t lose her again.  
“Because you´re my baby sister.”, he blurted out, cursing internally as he saw her stopping in her movement, turning back to him immediately, her eyes wide in shock.  
“What?!”


	2. Chapter 2

Alec woke up from the beams of the morning sun dazzling him. He rolled over, searching with his hand for Magnus, but couldn´t make him out by touch. He frowned, opening his eyes but squinted them immediately as they met the beams of the bright shining sun. He needed some seconds to get used to the brightness and to be able to see properly again but even without his sight he could tell that Magnus wasn´t there.  
Alec frowned. He got out of the bed and quickly into his clothes from the previous day that were scattered throughout the whole room before heading out on the floor to search for Magnus. As he reached the stairs he unfortunately met not only Raphael, who gave him a knowing look (a combination of a raised eyebrow and a smirk), but also his constable, who nearly beamed at him. He could really use Magnus by his side right now.

As they reached the end of the floor Alec nearly stumbled into Magnus, who came out of the kitchen, a cup of tea in his hand.  
Magnus gave him a short surprised look, before a heart-warming smile appeared on his lips, making Alec feel like there were a thousand butterflies fluttering around inside him.  
“Good morning.”, Magnus smiled.  
“Good morning”, Alec responded, not able to stop the light blush on his face.  
“He was searching for you.”, Raphael interjected dryly. Magnus frowned at him, before realization hit him. He closed his eyes, cursing internally.  
“I´m sorry, my dear Alexander.”, he apologized, “It´s just that so much happened this morning.”  
“Really?”, Simon gave him a curious look, “What´s wrong?”  
“Nothing´s wrong.”, Magnus assured, as he noticed all the worried and confused eyes that were pinned on him, “It´s actually quite the opposite.”  
“Then what is it, Mags?”, Alec asked. But not angry, or impatient, or reproachful, just honestly curious.  
“Tessa is here.”, Magnus explained, noticing very well how all pairs of eyes went wide, “She´s sitting in our salon right now. I´ve wanted to bring her a tea to calm her down. I fear this was all a bit too much for her: the kidnapping of her aunt, finding out that I´m her brother. These kinds of things.”  
“Wait what?!”, Alec blurted out, looking shocked and surprised and totally confused at the same time, “How is this possible we went to bed together, we slept together, how-“, he stopped for a second, blushing as he realized that he´d just said that in the presence of other persons than just him and Mags, “- how is it possible that you´ve found your sister all on your own, told her that you´re her brother, brought her here and even had the time to make her tea?! How long are you already awake?”  
“Not so long, actually.”, Magnus shrugged, “And I´ve actually just told her that I´m her brother and made her tea. She´d found me all on her own. She stood in front of our door this morning.”  
“You´re really attracting all these kinds of things, don´t you?”, Raphael raised his brow.  
“Means?”, Magnus asked sheepishly, even though he would rather talk with Alexander right now (besides, he already knew what would come next).  
“How about that you´re always stumbling over murder victims. And let´s not forget the bloody cat that came through OUR WINDOW. And now your missing sister has just suddenly appeared in front of our doorstep. How is this possible, Mags?”  
(Yep, he´d seen that one coming…)  
“It´s like magic.”, Simon laughed, “are you serious that you´re not secretly a wizard or something?”  
“Haha”, Magnus pouted, “I´ve wanted to go and bring Tessa her tea before it´s getting cold. Do you wanna come with me?”, even though he´d asked the question casually in the round, his eyes were just looking at Alexander. He somehow wanted him to meet Tessa, as he wanted Tessa to meet him.

As they entered the salon Magnus went directly to the girl that was sitting in his favourite armchair right now. She was wearing a simple blue dress, and her brown curls were falling loosely over her petite shoulders. Alec noticed that her eyes had the same color as Izzy´s, a mix of brown and grey, but they were reddened and swollen. She must have cried a lot. No wonder considering the events of the last days and what she´d had all to discover.  
As she noticed their presence she looked up and directly to them, seemingly a little bit unsure how to react now. Magnus knelt down beside her, handing her the porcelain cup with a reassuring smile. She accepted it thankfully, giving him a slight smile in return.  
Alec couldn´t help the warm feeling that spread in his stomach as he watched the scenery. He knew how the murder of his sister had always burdened Magnus. Seeing him now with Tessa in his role of the protective and caring big brother just warmed his heart. He was glad that Magnus had found a part of his peace now.  
The peaceful happy moment got interrupted by a frowning Simon Lewis next to him.  
“I know you.”, he realized, making everyone look at him in surprise. “You´re the girl from the hospital!”  
“Which girl from the hospital? What are you talking about, mi amor?”, Raphael asked curious.  
“Back then at the morgue. When we chased the burglar. She was there as well. She sat on a bench, reading.”  
All the others looked at Tessa, eyebrows raised. Tessa ducked her head, looking sheepishly at Magnus. “I´ve maybe broke into the morgue.”  
“You have what?”, Magnus blinked.  
“Nate was missing and I´ve wanted to find out if he was the dead one from the Central park. But I didn´t had the chance to get my answer because of your arrival.”, she confessed.  
“So, to summarize that”, Alec said slowly, frowning, “You broke into the morgue to do investigations in an active murder case?”  
“Am I in trouble now?”, she asked, but Alec, Raphael and Simon just burst out into loud laughter.  
Tessa looked at them, blinking totally confused.  
“La prueba irrefutable.”, Raphael laughed, “You´re really a Bane.”  
“Haha, very funny, Raph.”, Magnus commented sarcastically.  
“Have I missed something?”, Tessa asked, still not understanding what was going on.  
“Magnus just always breaks into the morgue, or other buildings during a case.”, Alec explained, wiping a tear of laughter from his cheek.  
“What?! Really?”, Tessa looked at her brother wide eyed.  
But before Magnus had the chance to answer to that, Alec continued,  
“He also kidnaps witnesses, adopts evidences, joins into illegal car races and fights with murderers on rooftops.”, Alec didn´t sounded reproachful. Instead, he looked at Magnus with adoration, causing him to look away, trying to hide his blush. A blushing Magnus was really a rare view. Tessa couldn´t help but to notice his reaction, and she couldn´t help but to grin. She´d always thought of Magnus Bane as a reckless heartbreaker. But after not even one hour in his house she had to realize that he was the total opposite of what she´d imagined him to be.  
“So Tessa”, Magnus declared, “Meet my partners and good friends: Detective inspector Alec Lightwood, Police constable Simon Lewis, and my assistant and best friend Raphael. They´ll help us finding your aunt Harriet. Guys, meet my baby sister Tessa.”, Magnus said the last part with a mix of pride, love and happiness in his voice.  
“Nice to meet you, guys.”, Tessa smiled at them.  
“It´s nice to meet you too, angelito.”, Raphael said, “Magnus has told me so much about you.”  
“Really?!”, Tessa looked at Magnus, surprise in her eyes.  
“But of course, angelito.”, Raphael´s voice was surprisingly soft, “Tu hermano has missed you all the time, you know.”  
“Raphael”, Magnus hissed, but he couldn´t being it upon him to sound strict.”  
“Speaking of time”, Simon gave her a curious look, “What happened? What have you done all those years? Did you really had no idea that Magnus was actually your brother?”  
Good question.  
They all looked back at Tessa, who seemed to be a little bit sad by now.  
“No.”, she admitted, “I´ve always thought that Nate would be my older brother. Like I´ve thought that my parents would be dead. I don´t remember much from my childhood. There are just a few glimpses, but that´s all.”  
“It´s ok if you don´t remember.”, Magnus assured her, “After all, you´ve been very young when we´ve lost you.”  
He sounded convincing, but Alec knew it better: Magnus was hurt that Tessa didn´t remember him, even though he would never blame her. It was the whole situation that hurt him, even though he was happy as well.  
“I actually remember you.”, Tessa pointed out, making Magnus´ brows flew up.  
“Really?”, he asked, frowning, “You know you don´t have to lie to make me feel better. Like I said: It´s ok.”  
“I´m not lying. It´s actually odd, you know? I´ve always had those memory: It was a stormy night and I was afraid, so I went into your bed and you´ve hugged me and told me that you would protect me. Every time I saw a photo of you in the newspaper, I thought that you would look like the boy from my memories. But I would have never dreamed of you actually being that boy.”  
There was a moment of silence.  
“I´m gonna make us some more tea.”, Magnus announced in a low voice, stood up and left the room. All the others looked after him, brows furrowed.  
“Did I- did I say something wrong?”, Tessa asked, slightly worried.  
“I´m gonna look after him.”, Alec announced, leaving as well.


	3. Chapter 3

Magnus sat on the edge of his bed. As Alec slipped through the door, he looked up at him, his eyes shimmering. He was close to tears.  
Alec sat wordlessly next to him on the bed. “You okay?”, he asked softly.  
“She remembers me.”, he said, his eyes pinned on the ground, “she remembered how I´ve promised her to always be there for her.”  
“But that´s a good thing, isn´t it?”  
“But I haven´t been there for her.”, he pointed out, sounding bitter, “I haven´t been able to protect her from whatever has happened back then.”  
“You´ve been just a child, you didn´t knew she was in danger.”  
“Still”, Magnus said, “I´ve failed her, like I´ve failed you.”  
Alec frowned. “What are you talking about, Mags?”  
“This was our first morning together. I should have made you breakfast, or we should have cuddled in bed or anything like that. Instead I´ve just left you alone and you had to search for me. I know I have a certain reputation when it comes to these kinds of things. But you´re important to me, and I should have shown you that this morning. I hope you don´t think that… you know…”, he sighed frustrated, “Nothing went like planned this morning.”  
Alec had to laugh, causing Magnus to finally look up from the ground.  
“Since when does your life follow a plan, Magnus? You hate plans. You never follow them.”  
“But this is different. Aren´t you mad at me?”  
“Why should I?”, Alec gave him a soft smile. “It´s not your fault that Tessa came here. Besides, I´m actually very happy. Seeing you with your sister makes me happy, because I know how much this means to you. And we can still catch up to the thing with our breakfast in bed.”  
“Since we didn´t had our first real date yet: how would you think about diner in bed?”, Magnus offered, laughing.  
“Sounds good to me.”, Alec chuckled, “So, what are we gonna do now? How do find out what really happened back then? And how do we find Harriet Gray? We have nothing.”  
“That is actually not quite true.”, Magnus said, “I have an idea. But I fear that I need to make a confession first.”

As Alec and Magnus stepped into the salon to the others, they were welcomed by curious eyes and raised eyebrows.  
“Are you okay?”, Simon asked.  
“Of course I´m okay.”, he insisted.  
“And he has an idea how to find out the truth”, Alec added.  
“Really?!”, Tessa looked at them hopefully, “That´s great!”  
“Wait with that until you hear what he has to say.”, Alec sighed, letting himself fall into one of the big armchairs.  
“It´s not that bad.”, Magnus insisted, but as he saw Alec´s raised eyebrow, he muttered, “fine, it´s not the best idea, but it´s the only chance we have.”  
“I´m not sure if I want to know what you have in your crazy mind this time.”, Raphael commented.  
“We´ll solve this case with the help of Lilith.”, Magnus announced, wincing as he saw Raphael´s glare.  
“DIOS!”, he burst out, “Magnus, are you insane?! I thought that we´ve talked about that. You can´t count on that diablo, she´s evil!”  
“Will you please let me explain first?”, Magnus raised his hands placatory.  
“Who´s Lilith?”, Tessa asked, obviously confused.  
“Magnus´ devious aunt.”, Raphael explained, “Well, actually she´s your devious aunt as well. My condolences.”  
“Condolences?”, Tessa asked wide eyed, blinking.  
“Don´t worry. You won´t have to meet her.”, Magnus insisted, “We won´t involve her in this.”  
Raphael frowned. “Magnus, I fear you have to explain this to us.”  
“I have a box full of information from Lilith. I still had no chance to look into it, but as far as I know there should be lots of information in it about what really happened ten years ago.”  
“Why do you have that box?”, Simon asked.  
“Better don´t ask, constable.”, Alec muttered.  
Raphael looked at him with raised eyebrows. “He told you?”  
“Yes.”, Alec sighed, “But I´m still not sure if I should be angry about it or not.”  
“Why?”, Simon looked at them questioningly, “What happened?”  
“I´ll explain it to you later, mi amor.”

They all sat on the floor of his salon, surrounded by the notes and information that they´d found in the box. Even though it was more confusing than actually illuminating.  
“I know you´ve said that his-, my… that OUR aunt is the actual devil, but I haven´t thought that you would mean this for real.”, Tessa frowned as she looked at some sketches of occult symbols.  
The box had been full of these kinds of sketches, together with information about demons and angels and other strange things.  
“What is all that?”, Simon asked, furrowing his brows as he held up a medieval wood print.  
“Looks like the manual for some kind of ritual to me.”, Magnus made a face, “Maybe my aunt is really the devil.”, he tried to joke.  
“And how do we make sense of this crap?”, Raphael asked, eyebrows raised as he looked up from his article about demonology.  
“We could ask at the university.”, Magnus offered, “Or Ragnor asks Malcolm for help?”  
“Fade?!”, Raphael gave him an `are you kidding me´ look. “Este idiota no es de ayuda. He´s way too chaotic!”  
“Do you know any normal persons?”, Alec asked amused.  
“Why?”, Tessa looked over to Magnus, “Everyone here appears to be normal to me.”  
“You have no idea”, Alec laughed, “He knows witches and pirates and one of his informers is actually the English prime minister. His drivers are communists who are involved in bar fights nearly every night, his aunt is the devil, our dear Raphael is a former art thief and his butler has once been a professor for history at the university of Cambridge.”  
“Is he making fun of me?”, Tessa asked her brother, frowning.  
“No my dear, I fear he´s telling the truth.” Magnus confessed, causing Tessa to widen her eyes in disbelief, her jaw dropping.  
In that moment they´ve heard a hissing cat followed by a crash and a cursing Ragnor. Then there were rumbling footsteps on the stairs.  
“Speaking of our grumpy cat”, Magnus announced as an angry Ragnor came through the salon entry. He still wore his clothes from the previous day and his hair looked like a cat had slept on his head.  
“Magnus, why do I have to wake up with this chaotic piece of evidence sleeping on my head and-“ (so it doesn´t just look like it…)  
He stopped as he noticed the scenery in front of him: A lot of papers, notes and teared-out book pages were scattered everywhere on the ground. In the free spaces between sat Magnus, Raphael, Simon, Alexander and Tessa. Ragnor´s eyes wandered bewildered through the room until they stopped on her.  
“Ragnor, may I introduce you to my baby sister, Tessa.”, Magnus decided to simply ignore his little rage.  
“How long have I been passed out from the scotch?”, he asked, blinking, "Or am I simply still drunk?"  
“No and not long, I guess.”, Magnus shrugged, “But now that you are back to senses I need you to do me a favor.”  
“Oh god, if it has anything to do with pirates Magnus then I´ll-“  
“No pirates, I promise.”, Magnus laughed, raising his hands in mock-surrender, “I just need you to call Malcolm. Besides, we need to talk with an expert for mythology of the local universities as well. Do you know one?”  
“Can I get a coffee first?”, Ragnor muttered, slightly hangover.  
“I´ll make you one if you give me a name, old friend.”, Magnus grinned.  
“You´re unbelievable, Magnus.”, Ragnor sighed. “I actually know an expert. But in addition to the coffee you also owe me a hell of an explanation.”  
“The name?”, Magnus gave him a sheepish grin.  
Ragnor rubbed his temples in soothing circles, “It´s Mortmain.”, he told them, “Axel Mortmain.”


	4. Chapter 4

Alec and Magnus were driving to the local museum to meet with Mortmain, who´d happily agreed to talk to them on the very same day.  
Raphael, Simon and Ragnor had chosen to stay at the mansion with Tessa to help her remembering some more details from her past.  
Even though Magnus would have liked to stay with them and help Tessa remembering, he had to solve this case first. Besides, on this way he could spend some more time together with his precious detective inspector.  
If there wouldn´t be this one thing…  
“Magnus would you please stop looking at me like this.”, Alec sighed. Magnus looked at him with a pout, his arms demonstratively crossed in front of his chest.  
“Why don´t you let me drive?”, he pouted.  
“Because”, Alec took in a deep breath, “I´ve had to learn on the hard way that Raphael´s right: you shouldn´t be allowed to drive, like EVER.”  
“It hasn´t been that bad.”, Magnus insisted, getting a sarcastic glare from Alec.  
“You´ve unauthorized chased a criminal in one of our police cars!”  
“And I´ve caught him”, Magnus grinned, ignoring the continuing glare.  
“By nearly causing several car crashes.”  
“Bu-“  
“I won´t let you drive my police car, Magnus.”  
“Fine.”, Magnus accepted reluctantly.

As they walked through the museum, Magnus looked around, admiring the exhibition pieces. Right now they were in a huge hall filled with angel statues and paintings of sceneries of the Christian mythology. Magnus could catch a glimpse of the next room that was seemingly filled with pieces of the egyptian mythology: golden cats and statues of gods with animal heads and jeweled scales.  
“We should have brought Raphael with us.”, he pointed out, “he would have loved it in here.”  
Alec looked at him, eyebrows raised.  
“Have you just suggested to bring the art thief into a museum full of art?!”, Magnus couldn´t tell if he sounded sarcastic or amused or if it was a mix of both.   
“Former art thief.”, Magnus corrected.  
“Still. That´s like bringing a child into a sweet store.”  
“Raphael knows how to behave himself.”  
“You´re right.”, Alec admitted, “Actually you´re the one I should be worried about.”  
“I know how to behave myself, as well.”, Magnus pouted, causing Alec to laugh.  
“Since when do you know how to behave yourself?”, he laughed, “I´ve once seen you climbing on an already driving train to catch a criminal.”  
“I haven´t been aware of the fact that you dislike my chaotic but brilliant ideas so much.”, even though the words sounded critical, Magnus´ tone was bemused, slightly teasing.  
“They are indeed chaotic.”, Alec admitted, “And crazy and dangerous and I´m pretty sure that they´ll drive me insane one day. But they´re also brilliant, and fantastic and so entertaining. And no, I don´t dislike them. How could I ever dislike anything of you?”, Alec said that last part in a soft voice that made Magnus swallow hard.  
He wanted to respond something when their beautiful moment got interrupted by a man in his forties who cleared his throat (Magnus already couldn´t like that guy.) He had grey hair and grey eyes and wore an elegant suit. Magnus hadn´t been aware of the fact that employees of the museum actually earned so much money that they could effort such a suit, but apparently it was possible.  
“Detective inspector Lightwood?”, the man asked, eyeing them curiously.   
Magnus felt like a prey that got watched by a predator before last one jumps in and kills its prey. This man´s eyes really were predatory-like. The way they were fixed on him, piercing and intimidating. Not to mention that spark in his eyes that Magnus only knew too well. Not from that guy, of course, but from his aunt.   
“Yes?”, Alec responded, and Magnus could tell by the way his jaw clenched that Alec had noticed that spark as well, “Professor Mortmain?”, he inquired.  
“Indeed.”, he gave them a wide smile, before turning to Magnus, “And you are the real Lord Magnus Bane.”, he announced, causing Magnus to frown, “What an unexpected pleasure to actually meet you in person, myLord. After all you are quite the prominent person here in New York: Relative of the crown, immeasurably rich, adventurer, bon vivant, and you have quite the reputation when it comes to your love life. Your `flings´.”  
He´d said the last part in a way that let no doubt for Magnus that he must have listened in to some parts of his conversation with Alec. At least enough to interpret their relation in a somehow right way.  
Magnus fixed Mortmain with his eyes as well, giving him his fake smile (he could play that little game as well; he grew up under Lilith SaintCroix after all.)   
“I haven´t known that I´m THAT popular.”, he lied, but with his best poisonous sweet voice (it seemed that the time he´d had to spend with Lilith had been good for something after all…).  
“Oh but of course you are.”, he said, showing them his teeth, “And I´m more than happy to welcome you here in our lovely museum.”  
Magnus was so focused on Mortmain that he didn´t notice how Alec had blushed for a short moment as Mortmain had noticed his love life. And by now he was quiet, seemingly lost in thoughts and not paying much attention to their repartee.  
“But enough of this”, Mortmains words cut him out of his thoughts, “You´ve said that you wanted to talk with me about some evidences in an active crime case?”  
“Yes, exactly.”, Alec said, snapping back to reality. He took a bunch of the papers that they´d found in the box out of his bag and handed them over to Mortmain, who eyed them suspiciously.   
As he took a closer look at the symbols, he frowned. “Where have you found them?”, he asked, posture stiffening.  
“Does that matter?”, Magnus asked, eyebrow raised.  
“As I´ve mentioned before, this is part of an active crime case. That is why we can´t give any information out to civilians.”, Alec tried his best to speak in his official detective-inspector-voice.  
“Of course.”, Mortmain smiled (obviously fake), “My apologies. But to come back to our original conundrum: these symbols are part of a ritual to summon Raziel.”  
“Raziel?”, Magnus frowned.  
“One of the archangels.”, Mortmain explained, “there´s an old legend that says that you could summon Raziel down on earth.”  
“And why should someone do that?”  
“Because Raziel will grant his summoner a wish.”  
“A wish?”, Magnus sounded skeptical, “Just like this?”  
“Well, it´s not that easy. You need four things to summon Raziel: a sword, a grail and a mirror.”  
“And the fourth?”  
“The blood of a fallen angel.”  
“A fallen angel? Like in Lucifer?”  
“No. The Legend says that they would live among us. Looking like any other normal human beings.”  
“So you´re saying that whoever is crazy enough to do that ritual would actually think of a human as an angel?”  
“Why is that crazy?”, Mortmain demanded, “After all neither of us can know what truly hides in the shadows.”  
Magnus couldn´t help but to think at Tessa´s gold necklace. What if someone had thought of her as a fallen angel?  
“What would happen to that fallen angel? Would they just need a drop of her blood?”, Magnus asked, cursing internally as he saw flicker in Mortmains eyes by the word `her´.  
“Why do you think that the fallen angel is female, Lord Bane?”  
“As we´ve said, Professor Mortmain”, Alec stepped in, “We can´t talk about it.”  
“Of course you can´t. And no, I fear that it would be more of a blood sacrifice.”  
“You mean they would kill he- the angel?”, Magnus corrected himself immediately.  
He didn´t want to give Mortmain more information than he already had. He didn´t trust that guy.  
“If someone would actually be able to collect all four ingredients of the ritual, then yes.”  
Suddenly, Magnus had to think back at his aunt´s words from that evening:  
`I couldn´t be more disgusted by my brothers´ stupidities.´  
What if one of their uncles was seemingly crazy enough to plan the summoning of an angel? What if one of their uncles truly wanted to murder Tessa?


	5. Chapter 5

Magnus had thought that these news would have been shocking to him, but it had been Alexander who´d been quiet during their drive home. But somehow Magnus had this certain feeling that it wasn´t because of Mortmain´s information…  
As they stood in front of Magnus´ front door, he stopped, turning over to Alec.  
“You wanna talk about it?”, he asked softly.  
“About what?”, Alec frowned. It was the first thing he´d said since they´d left the museum.  
“Whatever it is that´s bothering you.”  
Alec looked down, swallowing hard. “I just can´t stop thinking about Mortmains words.”, he admitted, sighing.  
“The crazy stuff about the fallen angels?”, Magnus gave him a questioning look.  
“No. The stuff about you. About your flings.”  
Magnus closed his eyes, mentally already planning Mortmain´s murder.  
“Alexander”, he said it as softly as possible, reaching out to touch his hand, causing him to look up at him, “It´s true that I had some loose and meaningless relationships in the past. I mean it´s not like this would be a secret, I´m actually pretty sure that half of New York knows about them,”, he tried to joke before turning serious again, “But you´re none of them.”  
“Are you sure?”, Alec asked reluctantly and Magnus swore that he would make Mortmain pay.  
“But of course!”, Magnus confirmed, “You will never be a fling to me, Alec. You have to trust me. I mean, why do think have I waited so long? If it would have been simple desire, then I wouldn´t have had a reason to wait. But I´ve waited, because I didn´t wanted to screw things up between us. Because you´re important to me.”  
Alec gave him a slight warm smile in response. “C´mon”, he said, pointing with his head in the direction of the door, “The crazy ones are surely already awaiting us.”  
Magnus couldn´t suppress a little laughter.  
As they entered his mansion, they noticed that there were a bunch of voices wildly discussing in the salon. Magnus and Alec exchanged a quick view before they decided to follow the noise.  
As Magnus entered his salon, with Alec directly by his side, he had to blink a few times, not quite sure what was going on right now.  
But he was pretty sure that there hadn´t been so many people in his house when they´d left.  
Izzy was sitting on the ground, with Will and Jem on her sides, laughing. Even though Will only had eyes for Tessa, who sat on one of the armchairs together with Clary and Catarina who were looking with her through some old photo albums. Simon, Raphael and Ragnor leaned against the sideboard. Raphael had his arm around Simon´s waist, whispering something with him while Ragnor glared angrily at Chairman, who (who would have thought) slept peacefully on the remains of their sixth Christmas tree.  
As Tessa looked up at them, she gave him a desperate look, asking him for help with her eyes.  
Magnus couldn´t even blame her for that. He knew his household, his `family´. They were as crazy as he was and all together they could be a little bit too much if you haven´t experienced it before.  
“Tessa, can I talk to you outside for a moment. Our dear detective inspector can meanwhile inform the others about our new discoveries.”, Magnus offered, getting a grateful smile from Tessa, who seemed to be far more relieved by now, in return.  
Tessa stood up, walking through the room and with Magnus out on the veranda.  
Jem looked after her, a soft expression in his eyes and a slight smile curling up the corners of his lips. Izzy caught his look and gave him a mischievous smile.  
“You like her, don´t you?”, She asked in a low voice, leaning forward, making sure that no one else would hear them.  
“I don´t know what you´re talking about.”, Jem said, but his wide eyes told a different story.  
“You. Like. Tessa.”, Izzy repeated with a knowing smile.  
“Will likes Tessa.”, Jem argued, but Izzy just raised her eyebrows skeptically.  
“Just because Will confesses his feelings for her open and to everyone he meets doesn´t mean that you can´t like her as well, Jem.”, she whispered, causing Jem to sigh.  
“Maybe you´re right.”

They both stood next to each other on the veranda, arms leaned on the railing, watching the passing walkers.  
“Thanks.”, Tessa said, giving him another slight smile, “I know they´re all nice people and I like them, I really do, it just became a bit…”  
“Too much at once?”, Magnus finished her sentence, causing her to chuckle.  
“Yeah.”, she said, watching how a butterfly landed on one of the roses in Magnus´ front garden, “It´s strange. I mean no one besieged me that much when I was still dead.”, she joked, but bit her tongue when she saw the expression on Magnus´ face. His lips had tightened to a thin line, nearly not seeable anymore, his eyes were looking on something on the ground and his whole posture seemed to have tensed for a short moment, before he seemed to relax again. Tessa wondered if that was how he actually felt, and if she hadn´t just noticed until now how hurt he truly was. She closed her eyes, cursing internally for her stupidity. Why hadn´t she noticed that earlier.  
As she opened her eyes again, she just said, “Too early for this kind of joke?”  
“A little, yes.”, Magnus laughed, but it sounded sad.  
“I´m sorry.”, she then blurted out, not quite sure why she was doing it now or at all but she suddenly felt the urge to do so.  
“For what?”, Magnus asked, eyebrow raised, “You couldn´t know about the joke.”  
“No I mean because I´ve always thought the worst of you.”  
“You have?”  
“I´ve always thought that you would just be some arrogant, selfish rich boy with too much money and no responsibilities.”, she confessed, “but now that I know you personally I had to realize that I couldn´t have been more wrong.”  
“Well, I understand why you would have thought so about me. It´s not like I would have behaved well during the past years.”, Magnus reassured her.  
“Still. You´re nothing like I´ve imagined you to be. But you´re also not like I´ve imagined a real Lord.”, she said the last part in a lowered voice, but still loud enough for Magnus to raise both of his eyebrows questioningly in response.  
“And how do you imagine a `real Lord´ to be?”, he asked, slightly amused.  
“Like the ones from my books, of course.”, she said, causing Magnus to burst out into laughter, throwing his head back in his neck.  
“W- What is it?”, she asked bewildered, blinking. She really hadn´t expected to get this reaction.  
“It´s just that these books are quite illusionary.”, he said, still slightly laughing.  
“That´s not true.”, Tessa insisted.  
“You won´t find a Lord like they exist in your books. Look at me, Tessa, I´m a Lord. A Lord who drinks smuggled alcohol, collects guns and visits every party you can find in New York. Our devious aunt is a Lady. And I´m still pretty sure that she has hell fire in her veins instead of blood. Hell I know a lot of Lords and Ladies and they are nothing more than swindlers and liars, the embodiments of all the bad characteristics you´ve thought I would have.”  
“Don´t you know at least one good and honest Lord or Lady out there. I mean, except you, of course.”, she asked curious.  
There was a strange flicker in his eyes that was gone before Tessa had the chance to think about it too hard.  
“I´m not as good or honest as you think I am, Tess.”, he said, thinking at what he´d promised his aunt. Back then when he´d still thought that his sister would be dead. He had to swallow hard at that thought, before he tried to give her a smile, “But I actually know one good and honest Lady.”  
“Really?”, Tessa asked, “Who is it?”  
“You.”, he pointed out, and Tessa truly realized for the first time that she was actually a Lady. That she wasn´t Tessa Gray, that she´d never really been it. That nothing she´d believed to be true had ever been it. That her whole life had been nothing but one big bad lie. Nate hadn´t been her brother, she wasn´t the daughter of servants, she wasn´t Tessa Gray.  
But was she really Lady Tessa Bane? How could she be someone who´s officially dead. How could she live a life she couldn´t even really remember. Who was she?

As they were all gathered in the salon together, all informed about the things Mortmain had told them, they discussed what to do next.  
“How about we throw out our little destroyer of Christmas trees?”, Ragnor suggested (totally unhelpful), getting a sarcastic glare from Magnus.  
“I won´t throw out Chairman Meow, Ragnor.”  
“Why have you actually called your cat Chairman Meow?”, Tessa asked, both curious and bemused.  
But before Magnus had the chance to give her a proper answer Ragnor said, criticizing as always, “Because he doesn´t know how to name animals.”  
“Chairman is a great name.”, Magnus pouted, before turning serious again, “But actually I´ve wanted to ask you if you´ve already managed to call Malcolm?”  
“Do we really need Fade?”, Raphael asked, sounding desperate.  
“What do you have against Malcolm?”, Magnus frowned.  
“Nothing. I just think that we´re already enough crazy people at one place. Do you really want to involve more loco caóticos in this?”  
“We´re not THAT crazy.”, Magnus insisted, ignoring Alec´s obvious chuckle, Cats and Clary´s laughter and Simon´s only half-successful attempt to suppress a grin.  
“Fine.”, Ragnor sighed in surrender, “I´ll call Fade.”  
“Thank you.”, Magnus said relieved, but too early because Ragnor hadn´t been finished yet.  
“But”, he said, pausing for a slight dramatic effect, “If I call Fade, then you have to call your father.”  
Alec looked over to Magnus, whose face seemed to lose all of his color. “Why should I do that?!”, he blurted out.  
“Because I´m pretty sure that he knows something helpful.”  
Damn it.  
He was right.  
Magnus knew that he was right.  
And he hated it.  
“You have to call your father, Magnus.”


	6. Chapter 6

Magnus let out a heavy sigh. He stood in the floor, in front of his telephone. He looked down at it. It was red with a heavy handset and a long ringed cable. It stood on a small sideboard out of dark cherry wood. He had no idea how long he was already staring at this stupid thing: if it were hours or minutes or just a few seconds.   
He let out another heavy sigh, rubbing with his hand over his face before he grabbed the handset, using his other hand to dial the number.  
He waited a few seconds but without success. Just when he wanted to hang up again (admittedly relieved), someone accepted the call (damn it!).  
“Hello?”, a female voice answered at the other end of the line, “Here at the mansion of Lord and Lady Bane. How can I help you?”  
That was probably one of his fathers housemaids.  
Magnus took in a deep breath, before he answered:  
“I need to talk to Lord Bane. Personally.”  
“I fear that Lord Bane is busy right now, Monsieur.”  
“He will have time for this call. I can assure you this.”, Magnus said, not willing to give up (even though he would love to do it this time. But he couldn´t.)  
“And who do you think who you are, Monsieur?”, the voice demanded.  
Oh. Magnus had been so tensed and admittedly also slightly nervous that he´d totally forgotten to introduce himself. Not the best manners.  
“I´m your masters son, the younger Lord Bane.”, he said it in a strict voice, well aware of the fact that the maid at the other end of the line took in a sharp breath.  
He couldn´t blame her. He never called his father. He only contacted his step-mother from time to time, but only per letter. He´d never freely searched the contact to his family. Not since Tessa´s death. Well, her actually not-existing death, but still. The fact that he´d called his father freely must seem like a sensation to his maid, and probably everyone else in his family.  
“I´m sorry, Lord Bane.”, the maid apologized, “If you would please wait a few seconds. I´m going to inform your honorable father immediately.”, she said and Magnus could hear that she was already gone. He was actually pretty proud of himself. He´d somehow managed not to snort out loud when the maid called his father `honorable´.  
Magnus knew that he wasn´t allowed to screw this phone call up. He simply couldn´t, it was too much on the line.  
He could hear someone picking up the handset before the sadly well too familiar voice of his father reached his ear.  
“I don´t know who you are or if this is some kind of a bad joke, but my son never calls me so I-“  
Well, apparently not even his own father believed that he would call him freely on his own. Was there a better evidence for his screwed up relationship with his family (well, his blood-realtives. He had his family here.)?  
“It´s a pleasure to hear your voice, too, father.”, Magnus tried to sound cheering, noticing very well how it suddenly went quiet on the other end.  
“Magnus?!”, his father asked in disbelief.  
“Do you have another son?”, he asked.  
“You´re calling me?”, there was still this unmistakable disbelief in his voice.  
“I am.”, Magnus said as cheerful as possible, “I´ve thought that we could talk a little.”  
“About what?”  
“Don´t know. The next party at Lord Montgomeries, the weather outside, how the royal family´s doing, or how about the fact that you´ve lied to me about Tessa.”, he´d said that last part in a reproachful tone, but still remained calm. Controlled.  
There was a short moment of silence at the other end of the line, before his father asked: “What are you talking about, son. I´ve never lied to you about Tessa.”  
“And why is she sitting in my salon right now? ALIVE, by the way.”  
Even through the handset Magnus could hear his father taking in a sharp breath.  
“Magnus-“  
The way he said it was information enough.  
“So you knew it.”, it wasn´t a question. And Magnus felt anger rising in his chest.  
“My son, you have no idea what this is about and-“  
“If you´re talking about the fallen angels and the blood sacrifices for Raziel, then let me tell you father that I´m well aware, but thanks.”  
“How-“  
“I´m a private investigator, now, father. I´ve investigated.”  
“Magnus, why is Tessa with you? She shouldn´t come close to our family. You will only bring her in danger.”  
“I fear I have to tell you that she is already in danger, father.”  
“What do you mean?”, the voice asked, and Magnus was pretty sure that he´d never heard his father like this. He sounded so… afraid.  
“Tessa´s step-brother, adoptive-brother, whatsoever got murdered, from the same men who kidnapped Harriet Gray, by the way. And guess what? They´re actually looking for Tessa. So what the hell is going on?”, Magnus demanded, fearing that he couldn´t stay calm anymore.  
There was a moment of silence at the other end. A very long moment, to be accurate. Magnus was already wondering if his father maybe wasn´t on the phone anymore, when he heard:  
“What do you want to know?”  
“Everything.”

As Magnus came back into the room everyone looked up at him, eyes pinned on him questioningly. Magnus didn´t know what to say, he wasn´t even sure if that phone call had really happened or if he was already imaging things, but there was one thing that he knew for sure: that they had screwed things up. Very very badly. He hadn´t trusted his instincts enough. They´d already met their big bad guy and instead of turning him in he may have even told him something. Something that may have informed him about Tessa.  
“Are you okay, mi amigo?”, Raphael asked worried, noticing very well that Magnus was apparently feeling unwell.  
“Was the call with your father really that bad?”, Simon asked with big eyes.  
“It was actually even worse.”, Magnus sighed, gratefully accepting a glass full of smuggled Bourbon from Ragnor, “But at least I do know the identity of our culprit now.”  
“But that´s great, isn´t it?”, Tessa asked.  
“Wait.”, Simon frowned, “So you´re father knew about all of this the whole time?”  
“If you would know his family, then this wouldn´t surprise you now, mi amor. Trust me.”, Raphael said, and Simon breathed out a quiet `oh´.  
“So who is it?”, Alec asked curious.  
“It´s Mortmain.”, Magnus said, very well aware of the fact that Alec was giving him a look of total disbelief.  
“Axel Mortmain?”, he blurted out.  
“I fear yes. That means as long as you don´t know another Mortmain who´s an expert for the occult, my dear detective.”, Magnus said, pausing a short moment before adding, “Sorry, I- I just feel so stupid because I fear that I´ve told him something about Tessa. And we were there today and I haven´t noticed anything. Well, besides the fact that I couldn´t stand that guy.”, Magnus sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.  
“Don´t do that, Magnus.”, Alec gave him a reassuring look, his eyes soft, “Don´t start blaming yourself. I was there as well. I haven´t noticed anything either. There is no way you could have known it.”  
“Maybe”, Magnus sighed, leaning back against the door frame, “Maybe.”  
“What else has your- our father told you?”, Tessa asked.  
“Well, apparently Mortmain has convinced our uncle Azazel that there would be a way to summon an angel down to earth. And our uncle, for god knows what reason, has not only believed him but has also chosen that it would be a good idea to actually try it.”, Magnus took a long sip of his bourbon, “They used the wealth of my uncle and his contacts to smugglers and criminals to collect the angelic objects but they still needed their fallen angel. Somehow Mortmain got the idea that this would be you, Tessa. As my- our father found out what Azazel and Mortmain were planning, he made a plan together with Harriet to bring you to a safe place. He didn´t tell anyone to protect you and Tessa Bane died. But Azazel got suspicious and somehow, he´s managed to find you here. And today I´ve told Mortmain about you.”  
“Oh my god.”, Clary said in a breath, nearly not audible.  
“Okay.”, Alec used his best detective-inspector-voice, “Time to catch Mortmain. Lewis, you come with me. The others wait here. We don´t know what´s awaiting us. It´s simply way too dangerous.”  
“Por qué?”, Raphael mourned, “Why do you always have to do this, detective?! You know that this is like an open invitation to him?”  
He didn´t have to say who was meant with `him´. Everyone knew.  
Even Magnus already raised his hands in surrender, “Don´t worry. I won´t leave Tessa´s side.”  
Alec gave him a suspicious once-over, eyes narrowed, trying to find out if this was the truth. “Good.”, he said slowly, “Lewis, let´s go.”

Magnus was in the kitchen, opening the small window through which Chairman had broken into their house all these months ago. He still couldn´t believe it. His father had known about Tessa all the time. He´d known that she´d never died, hell, he´d been the one who´d staged her `death´ in the first place.  
He looked at the cookie dough ingredients on the kitchen table. It seemed that Izzy was planning another round of `let´s set the stove on fire´. He picked up the chocolate. He could really use some now. That and a good drink. Bourbon and chocolate. Sounded heavenly to him.  
“`There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate´.”, a female voice said behind him.   
Magnus looked up and saw Tessa standing in the entry to the kitchen. Her brown curls fell loosely over her shoulders and she gave him a reassuring smile.  
“Charles Dickens.”, Magnus determined, offering the chocolate to her.  
Tessa accepted it gratefully.  
She just wanted to ask him something when they´d heard a bunch of loud noises from the floor: loud footsteps, crashing objects, Clary´s startled outcry. They both winced, turning their head to the floor, walking out. The floor was full of scary looking guys. The type of guys that Magnus had met in the Pandemonium. And among them… Mortmain.  
Magnus instinctively rushed forward, putting himself protectively in front of Tessa. That was when he saw the gun that Mortmain pointed at them, a smirk on his face.  
“Lord Bane.”, he said in a voice that fitted perfectly to his predatory smile, “what an early reunion.”  
“Bastard.”, Magnus hissed, trying to look him in the eyes instead of staring into the barrel of the pistol.  
“That´s not very polite, myLord.”, Mortmain grinned, “Would you now please be so friendly to give me my angel?”, Mortmain said it in a way that made clear that it wasn´t meant to be a question, but a demand.  
“Never.”, Magnus said it in a strict voice, not breaking the eye contact with Mortmain.  
That´s why he didn´t notice how he pulled the trigger.   
A loud bang echoed through his halls. Behind him, he could hear Tessa crying out. But Magnus was too distracted by the stinging pain in his shoulder, and the world that slowly went dark around him as his knees buckled and he sank to the ground.  
The last thing he saw before he was completely unconscious was Mortmains devious triumphantly smile.


	7. Chapter 7

“You could at least pay attention to the oncoming traffic.”, Simon pointed out, looking slightly worried by his detective inspectors current driving style. It was so unlike him. Normally, Alec was more of a careful driver. But today? Today he was racing trough the streets as if they were in the middle of a motor race. If he wouldn´t know it better, then he would probably think that Magnus had too much of a bad influence on him. But he knew it better. They hadn´t been able to catch Mortmain. He hadn´t even been there. And no one had been able to tell them where he was. He´d vanished the moment Alec and Magnus had left the museum this morning. Simon was pretty sure that Alec had the same bad feeling that he had right now: oppressive, a kind of fear that spread inside you like storm clouds that are slowly but surely covering the blue sky and darkening the sun. It was the unexplainable knowledge that something bad was about to happen. If it hadn´t already happened…  
Alec stopped the police car in front of Magnus´ mansion with squealing wheels, nearly immediately jumping out of the car and running to the front door, taking two steps at once as he sprinted up the stairs. Simon was following directly behind him. As he reached the end of the stairs, Alec was already alternately ringing the doorbell in panic and vehemently hammering against the red wood of the door.  
Normally, they wouldn´t have to wait long until someone, mostly a grumpy Ragnor, would open them but now they had to wait a little bit. Actually, they had to wait far too long. Alec already seemed to consider kicking in the door when Rganor opened them. The expression on his face was everything but calming.  
“What´s wrong? Did something happen?”, Alec demanded, breathing hard.  
“Mortmain happened.”, Ragnor said, signaling them to come in. Alec took in a sharp breath.  
“Is everyone ok?”, Simon asked, suppressing the urge to add `Is Raphael ok?´.  
That was when he heard a weak, exhausted voice saying “Mi amor.”  
Simon looked up and directly into Raphael´s dark eyes. He stood in the entry to the salon, his suit was torn at some places and his hair was messy, some of his black curls falling loosely on his forehead, nearly touching his eyelashes. But Simon gave these (already really alarming) aspects not much attention. What caught his attention were his boyfriend´s eyes. The look in them.  
“Raph what´s wrong?”, Simon asked with wide eyes, but Raphael just looked down. It was Ragnor who answered instead, pointing at one corner at the end of the floor, near the kitchen entry. There were some really alarming red stains on the ground. Blood.  
“Whose blood is that?”, Alec asked. He sounded surprisingly calm but Simon had already worked with him long enough now to tell that the way Alec clenched his jaw told a different story. He may seemed calm outside but inside he was everything but that.  
“Magnus´s”, Ragnor explained shortly, and Simon immediately looked back at Raphael who clenched his fists so hard, Simon could see his knuckles turning white.  
Alec next to them looked as if he would be the one who got shot. All the color has left his face. “Where is he?”, he asked, his voice not so strong anymore, “Is he-?”  
“We don´t know.”, Raphael gritted out between clenched teeth.  
“What do you mean `you don´t know´?”  
“Mortmain has shot Magnus because he´s tried to protect Tessa. Then he´s taken the both of them with him.”, Ragnor explained, a strange note in his voice.  
“B-But that means that Magnus is still alive, right?”, Simon pointed out, not sure about whom he should be more worried: His detective inspector or his boyfriend? They both looked not good right now. “I mean there would have been no need for him to take Magnus with him if he wouldn´t still be alive, right?”, he tried to sound optimistic, but he feared that it sounded more pleading then anything else. After all, Magnus was his friend as well.  
“You´re probably right, Lewis.”, Alec said, his voice somehow sounding hollow.  
“We should probably go into the salon.”, Ragnor offered and he and Alec were heading ahead.  
Simon and Raphael stood there in the floor a while longer. Raphael seemed so depressed (of course he´s depressed, idiot, Simon thought), that it made Simon´s heart ache. He went over to Raphael, hugging him tight. Raphael buried his head in Simon´s neck, trying to find some comfort in his boyfriends embrace.  
As they finally managed to let go of each other, they followed Alec and Ragnor into the salon, where the others were already discussing wildly their next step.  
“We need to find Mortmain´s hideout. Could he be with this devious uncle of Magnus´, this Azazel?”, Alec suggested.  
“Azazel has an old mansion outside of New York.”, Catarina informed them, “it´s secluded, surrounded by a huge garden with a forest.”  
“Not to mention dark, eerie, and with the perfect atmosphere for a devil summon.”, Raphael added. He felt so much better now with Simon by his side, standing next to him, holing his hand, squeezing it from time to time for little pushes of comfort.  
“They summon an angel, not a devil.”, Clary corrected him with teary eyes.  
“Actually”, Raphael said, “They only think that they would summon… god knows what they want to bring here on earth. But let´s be honest: In the end, they´ll summon NOTHING. They just gonna murder a lot of innocent people.”  
There was a moment of silence. An oppressive silence.  
“How much of a lead does Mortmain already have?”, Alec asked, totally calm by now. A scary kind of calm, Simon thought. An alarming kind of calm.  
“Not so much.”, Ragnor pointed out, “About half an hour, maybe.”  
Simon wondered how Ragnor could still seem so normal. So… put together. But still there was this note in his voice. Something that mixed with his accent, let him sound totally different. But Simon simply couldn´t figure out what it was.  
“Then we shouldn´t waste any further minute.”, Alec said, attempting to leave.  
“Woah-woah-woah- wait.”, Clary said, raising her hands to signal him to stop, “What´s our plan now? Do we have any plan at all? You know, with steps, that we can actually follow. Like a) we do this and b) we do that. So that we all know what to do and nothing goes wrong.”  
“She´s right.”, Raphael pointed out, “That´s really not like you at all, detective. That´s something that Magnus would do but Magnus also mostly ends up in some crazy and dangerous situations, hence our current problem. But Magnus is also… he´s Magnus. Somehow the crazy dangerous stuff always works out for him. But it won´t work out for us, I´m sure. I won´t lose my best friend. I won´t lose my family. So we need a plan.”  
Alec closed his eyes, letting out a breath he wasn´t even aware he was holding, trying to come down. They were right. He knew that they were right. If he wanted to save Magnus that he couldn´t risk rushing into this.  
“What do you have in mind.”, he asked as he opened his eyes again.  
“Well…”

The first thing that Magnus noticed as he regained his consciousness was the stinging pain in his right shoulder, mixed with the unpleasant feeling of the warm blood that ran down his chest and the slight smell of iron that crunched up his nose. He felt a little bit dizzy (probably a result of his loss of blood) and his sight was a little bit blurry as well. He had to blink a few times until he could finally see everything clear.  
He was sitting in the cold grass. The sun was already setting down, coloring the sky in a mix of red, pink, orange and yellow, making it seem as if someone would have set it on fire.  
`How suitable´, Magnus thought.  
He was somehow tied up to a tree with a thick rope. The rope laced in his stomach and the angle his hands and arms were tied wasn´t helpful for his aching shoulder.  
He was looking around, searching for Tessa while trying to get out of his truly `unpleasant´ situation.  
But all he could see were some guys who were seemingly drawing one of the occult symbols from his aunt´s notes on the ground with white color.  
One of the guys, a man in an expensive black suit with needle stripes and a red tie came towards him. There was a spark in his eyes as he knelt beside him, giving him a devious smile.  
“My my. Look who´s awake.”  
“Uncle Azazel.”, Magnus tried not to sound as hopeless as he currently felt right now.


	8. Chapter 8

“Where´s our spoilsport?”, Will asked, leaning against their taxi.  
“Who?”, Raphael asked, frowning.   
“He´s talking about the detective inspector.”, Jem explained, causing Raphael to give Will a look.  
“He´s over there. Getting us some back-up.”, Raph pointed over to the other side of the street. Alec stood there with a guy who looked his age and who seemed to be surrounded by the same trouble-attracting aura that Raphael already knew from Will.

“I know it sounds crazy and dangerous but I wouldn´t have asked if I wouldn´t really need you, so, what do you say?”, Alec asked the blonde-haired guy who gave him a smirk.  
“I say you´re having a BIG crush on that rich guy.”  
Alec rolled his eyes, but couldn´t help the smile that was curling up the corners of his lips. That was so typical for his younger brother.  
“I´m serious Jace. What do you say?”  
“I say this plan of yours is so crazy, it´ll definitely get us all killed.”  
“So this is a yes?”, Alec asked, grinning.  
“An absolute yes.”, Jace gave his brother a wide grin.

As they attempted to get into the car Jace got pulled to the side by the same red-haired girl that he´d already noticed before, even though he really had no idea who she was. But apparently, she was a friend of Alec and Izzy and all these other crazy people his siblings spent their time with nowerdays.  
“I don´t know you.”, the girl pointed out, giving him a strict look. Jace couldn´t help but thinking that she looked cute when she tried to be intimidating. She was just too petite to actually be it. “But Alec and Izzy have faith in you. Izzy said that you would participate in box fights and motor races, that you would be a fighter and fearless. Izzy and Alec have faith in you, and I have faith in their judgement, so I´ll give you the credit of trust and put my faith in you too.” Jace frowned, not quite sure what she wanted to tell him. “I trust you with the lives of my friends. My family. You will bring them back, all of them. Do you understand?”  
“Wha-“, Jace attempted to say.  
“All. OF. THEM.”, and with that she made a turn on her heels and went back into the mansion to Izzy, this nurse and the unfriendly butler with the bad mood who was eyeing him skeptically the whole time.  
Jace stared after her, startled, blinking, before he headed to the car, asking his brother: “Who´s that?”

“My dear nephew”, Azazel knelt next to Magnus, his dark hair gelled back and a devious spark in his eyes. Magnus narrowed his eyes, ignoring the stinging pain in his shoulder, hoping that his glare was at least nearly as murderous as he wanted it to be. “It´s been a while. How are you?”, his uncle said it casually, as if they would have a normal conversation, not paying much attention to the fact that Magnus just tried to murder him with the power of his mind and the look in his eyes.  
“Well, ignoring that I´ve had to find out that you´re responsible for the tragedies of my childhood, that you´re trying to murder my baby sister, that you´re crazy friend has kidnapped Tessa and me and has shot and tied me to this tree, then I´m fine. Well, my shoulder is making me feel a little uncomfortable but no reason to worry, I´m pretty sure it´s not bad if a single person loses so much blood. So all in all, I´m fine. And how are you uncle?”, Magnus responded with an unmistakably amount of sarcasm in his voice. He wouldn´t show him any weakness.  
“As lovely as always, aren´t we, Magnus?”, his uncle said, his voice not so casual anymore.  
“Where´s Tessa?”, Magnus asked with a strict voice.  
“You´ll see her soon.”, his uncle gave him a smile that chilled him to the bones, “You can consider yourself lucky, Magnus. You´ll witness something fantastique and unique.”  
“An angel?”, Magnus scoffed, “Don´t be ridiculous, uncle.”  
“You don´t believe in angels?”, Azazel raised his eyebrow, “What a pitty.”  
“I don´t believe that angels are simply going to fulfill your wishes. Their angels, no genies in a bottle. They don´t fulfill wishes, their judges, executors and protectors, no fairy god-mothers.”  
“This angel will fulfill my wish.”  
"And what is it that you wish for? More money, more power?”, Magnus bit out.  
“Heaven.”, Azazel said, making Magnus frown. He´d expected a lot but not that.  
“Heaven?”, he asked careful, still convinced that he´d must misunderstood his uncle.  
“You see, Magnus,” his uncle started to explain with a calm thoughtful voice, “I haven´t been a good person. I´m definitely not going upwards when I die, and I´m not a fan of whatever is awaiting me downwards… So if I summon Raziel, then I can make sure that there´ll wait a place in heaven for me.”  
This has to be a dream.. It has to. His family couldn´t really be so illusionary, could they?  
“You think you´ll get a place in heaven by killing a bunch of innocents?”, he asked, not able of hiding his disgust anymore, “That´s the most stupid thing I´ve heard in a long while. That´s not how life works. You want a place in heaven – if there even exists something like that- than stop being such a self-absorbed power-hungry cruel monster and start acting like a person who actually has the ability of humanity.”  
As Magnus stopped his angry sermon he realized that he maybe shouldn´t have done that. His uncle gave him a strange look, one that Magnus couldn´t tell what it meant. But he knew enough to tell that it didn´t meant anything good. But then his uncle gave him a dangerous smile.   
“You´ll see.”  
And with that he stood up and left.

Shortly after his uncle, the others left as well. Magnus supposed that they were preparing another part of this stupid ritual. He tried to loosen up his ties, moving his arms in a way that didn´t do well for his already aching shoulder. But he just bit his teeth together, ignoring the pain that was shooting through his body like a lightning.   
He could hear footsteps that were coming closer towards him, that´s why he had to free himself and to get away from this stupid tree as fast as possible. He had to find Tessa and to inform Alexander.  
Alexander…  
For a moment, Magnus allowed himself to think about the possibility that this couldn´t take a good end. That this could go terribly wrong. He already had a damn bullet in his shoulder, so why shouldn´t he end with another one in his head? Or as another sacrifice for Raziel? In this case he would never see Alexander again. And this thought scared him more than the possibility of his death itself.  
But this thought wasn´t really helpful right now, so he had to push it back into the darkest corner of his head again. He had to free himself before…  
“Magnus!”, a worried voice cut him out of his thoughts. A voice that Magnus only knew too well. A slight smile curled up his lips as he looked over to the side and into Alec´s blue eyes. Next to him stood Simon and Raphael, who fastly rushed to his side, trying to get the ties off of him. “Dios mio, mi amigo.”, Raphael said as he took out a knife, “We´ve thought that you were dead. We were worried.” But Magnus knew that Raphael actually wanted to tell him something else.  
`I´ve thought you were dead. I was worried.´  
On the other side, Alexander was busy inspecting his wound, sighing in relief as he determined that it was just a laceration, nothing life-threatening. Simon was inspecting the area, his gun ready and unlocked.  
Magnus let out a relieved breath, relaxing his aching shoulder as Raphael finally managed to cut through the ropes.  
“We need to find Tessa.”, Magnus demanded as Raphael helped him up on his feet. He was still a little bit shaky on his feet.  
“Will, Jem and Jace are already on it.”, Simon explained, getting a frowning look from Magnus.  
“Who´s Trace?”  
“Not Trace.”, Raphael corrected him, “Jace.”  
“Or blondie, how Raphael has used to call him on the drive here.”, Simon grinned at his boyfriend.  
As Magnus expression didn´t change Alec added: “He´s my brother. He´s agreed to help us.”  
“You and Izzy have another brother?”  
“An adoptive brother.”, Raphael pointed out, “But he´s more like a second Will.”  
“So Will, Will number two and Jem are saving my baby sister right now?”, Magnus asked carefully, raising both of his eyebrows, “In that case, I´m gonna help them.”  
“Hell, no.”, Raphael blurted out.  
“Hell, yes.”, Magnus argued back.  
“Magnus, you´re wounded.”, Raph pointed out, “And the police will be here soon as well.”  
“And my sister is in the captivity of some murdering angel-worshipping psychopaths. We are the police. Somehow. And I´m not waiting so long. It could already be too late until the units arrive. Besides, I´m not life-threatening wounded.”  
Raphael sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He knew that he couldn´t stop him. Noone stops Magnus Bane when he´s convinced that he HAD to do something, no matter how foolish it was.  
He looked over to Alec who seemed to have the same realization that he had.  
“If you´re doing this, then I´ll come with you.”, Alec said, his tone making it clear that this was the only possible way. He knew that he couldn´t stop Magnus, but he also wouldn´t leave his side again.   
“I´ll come too.”, Simon threw in, causing Raphael to look at him, frowning.   
“Are you sure, mi amor?”  
“I´m a police constable.”, Simon said, “Protecting people is my job. Besides, do you remember the case with Camille? Back then, you guys have told me `Welcome to the family´. And that´s exactly what you are, what you´ve become: my family. I won´t leave you alone. No matter what foolery you´re going to do, you can be sure as hell that I´ll be by your side as your support.”  
Magnus looked at the young constable, smiling softly. He really was the best he could imagine for his friend Raphael. Raphael, on the other hand, stared with a mix of adoration, disbelief and surprise at Simon, before he cleared his throat, saying in his softest voice:  
“I really have no idea what I´ve done to deserve you. Just so you know: If we survive this, if Magnus isn´t going to screw this up and get us all killed, then I´m definitely going to marry you.”  
“Hey!”, Magnus insisted, but then realized what Raphael had just said, what he´d just done.  
“Did you- did you just propose to me?”, Simon asked, surprised.  
“Yes?”, Raphael seemed nervous, unsure. Magnus knew too well that this was a rare view. Raphael wasn´t really the nervous type.  
Simon swallowed before taking his eyes off Raphael, looking over at Magnus.  
“You better don´t screw this up.”, he said with a firm voice.  
Magnus grinned, knowing very well what that meant, and so did Raphael.  
“So, that´s a yes?”  
“A definite yes, of course.”, Simon said, kissing his boyfriend softly.   
If his shoulder wouldn´t burn like hell right now, then Magnus would applaud.   
As Simon pulled back, he looked over to Magnus and Alec, who smiled at them happily. One happy moment in a terrible situation. A ray of hope in their darkness.  
“Now that that´s settled”, Simon said, “What are we still waiting for?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was actually inspired by a writing prompt I´d found some time ago. Hope you enjoy it. The next chapter will be the great finale, by the way. ;)


	9. Chapter 9

They sneaked towards the mansion. It was one of those old manor houses from the founders time. The normally elegant marble rock looked so cold in the darkness of the upcoming night, surrounded by the tall big firs that threw additional shadows over the area, that his elegance turned into something threatening. They tried to be silent to not reveal themselves, always on the watch for possible guards. They were only partly successful. Although they were surprisingly not spotted by anyone, they weren´t silent either. The ground was covered with frozen leaves and branches that cracked under every of their steps. Magnus cursed internally every time he stepped on another branch while simultaneously praying to every higher being that could possibly listen to him that they wouldn´t be caught but would make it in time.  
He really wondered why they haven´t met anyone by now.  
Magnus wasn´t as fast as he would normally be it and he had to suppress the feeling of pain that bothered him with ever further step he made but he wouldn´t let this stupid wound stop him either. Not with his baby sisters life on the line. He tightened his grip around the little gun that Alec had given to him, even though Raphael had tried to explain to the detective that it would be a really bad idea to let him shoot.   
They sneaked through the old doors and into the manor´s entry hall. Magnus still remembered the last time he´d been here: back than his visit had been freely (well, relatively freely), not forcefully like now, but he was pretty sure that there hadn´t been so many angelic paintings and sculptures in his house the last time he´d been here.  
“Am I the only one who is more worried by the fact that we haven´t met anyone yet than I would be if we were surrounded by armed guards?”, Raphael voiced Magnus´ thoughts.  
Alec, who had his arm around Magnus´ waist, giving him some additional support, gave Raphael a worried look, before he eyed the interior suspiciously, as if he would expect the furnishing to turn alive and attack them every second.  
“You´re right.”, he murmured, half lost in thoughts. Magnus could nearly hear the gears working in his head. “Why´s nobody here?”  
“Because we took care of them.”, a triumphant voice answered, causing everyone to look into its direction. There was an open entry into another room several feet away from them. And against the doorframe leaned a young guy with blond messy hair and golden eyes. His shirt was dirty and torn in some places and his knuckles were bloody. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest and gave them a wide grin as he said “No need to thank me.”  
So that must be Trace. Or was is Jace? Magnus decided that he would simply stick with Trace.  
“You knocked out all the guards?”, Alec asked with raised eyebrows, causing his brother to pout.  
“Don´t sound so skeptical, Alec. Don´t you have faith in me. You know I´m a brilliant fighter. Actually, I´m brilliant in everything.”  
“Except modesty.”, Raphael commented dryly, causing the three to press their lips together, suppressing an inappropriate burst of laughter while Jace´s pout became even stronger.  
“So you´ve caught Mortmain and Azazel as well?”, Alec asked, still fighting against the grin.  
“The rich psychopath and the crazy professor?”, Jace asked. Magnus had to admit that these were quite the suitable nicknames. “No. They managed to flee. But there are a lot of knocked out bad guys in the other room waiting for you to handcuff them.”, Jace pointed with his thumb into the room next to him.  
“What about Tessa?”, Magnus asked, cursing himself for not asking that sooner.   
“She´s fine. Will and Jem are taking care of her. And of this other woman, a Harriet Gray or something like that. Also in that room, so maybe we should finally go in as well.”, Jace offered, before frowning at Magnus who could only think about the fact that they´ve seemingly found both, Tessa and Harriet, well and alive, “Isn´t it a bad idea to walk around with such a wound? Isn´t that dangerous?”  
Raphael scoffed. “Dangerous and bad ideas are his favourite ones.”  
“Well, that´s sympathetic to me.”, Jace grinned at Magnus, who just frowned. Jace reminded him a little bit of Isabelle, but like Isabelle, he wasn´t like Alec at all. If there wouldn´t be their looks, then Magnus would suppose that Alec would be the adopted one in this family.  
As Magnus stepped into the other room – a ball room with high ceilings and a huge dance floor – his eyes immediately spotted Tessa, standing in the middle of the room with her aunt Harriet, Will and Jem. And thank goodness, she looked unharmed. As they made some further steps into the room she looked away from the boys and towards them, her teary eyes going wide as she met his. She ran towards them, falling around his neck as she wrapped her arms around him, nearly throwing him down. Magnus took in a sharp breath, not caring about the painful sting in his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her too.  
“You´re alive.”, she sobbed, but audibly relieved and happy.  
“And you´re safe.”, Magnus whispered to her, “You´re safe, now.”  
“Oh isn´t that lovely.”, a dangerous voice said behind them. Magnus stiffened, looking around at his uncle Azazel, who pointed a gun at them. “A family reunion. And what an emotional one. Too sad that it won´t last. Give me my angel.”  
Magnus didn´t hesitate, he took the gun that Alexander had given to him before and pointed it at his uncle as well, “Try to get her and you won´t last.”, he said it in a strict voice, positioning himself in front of Tessa.  
“Oh, Magnus haven´t you learned anything?”, his uncles voice was sharp, a crazy expression in his eyes, “You already have a bullet in your shoulder, do you really want another one in your head so badly? Besides, you wouldn´t shoot your own uncle, would you?”  
Magnus could hear Raphael scoffing beside him.  
“I fear I have to inform you, diablo, that this decision has already been made a long time ago.”  
And of course, Raphael was right about that. After all, he knew about the deal that Magnus had once made with his aunt. A deal, he hoped he could escape. Especially now, that Tessa was alive. But maybe…

`“No police. If you find him and hand him over to the police, the worst that could happen to him would be the rope. That´s way too easy. And I don´t intend to let that bastard go that easy. I want him to suffer, like I had to suffer for all these years. I want to be the one who decides how it ends. So I´ll help you find him, if you´ll help me kill him.”  
“You mean murder him.”  
“I mean bring revenge and true justice over him.”´

“Enjoy the ride downwards.”, Magnus said with a cold voice, pulling the trigger. A shot echoed through the hall of the ball room. Magnus could hear his uncle crying out, going down on the ground, pushing his hands on the wound. Alec rushed forward, taking Azazel´s gun from the ground that he´d lost as the bulled hit his upper leg. “The rope´s awaiting you.”  
Raphael looked over to Magnus, “You´ve hit him. Not bad.”  
“If you ignore that I´ve actually pointed at his shoulder.”, Magnus confessed, shrugging.   
Raphael and the others stared at him for a second with wide eyes before Raph added, seemingly deciding not to go into the topic of Magnus´ shooting skills any further,  
“You haven´t killed him. Your aunt will be pissed.”  
“Then she´ll at least won´t come visiting me again so soon.”  
“Means win win.”, Raphael grinned, “It´s over, mi amigo.”  
“Yeah.”, Magnus said, hugging a shocked Tessa again, “It´s all over now.”

Magnus leaned against the doorframe of the entry to his salon, a cup full of hot chocolate in his hand, watching the scenery in front of him. It was Christmas eve, the first Christmas that he celebrated in a long while. Two weeks had passed since they caught Azazel and later also Mortmain, and stopped the ritual murders. And now he watched his family spending a wonderful evening together. Jem was playing music on his violin, while Tessa and Will sat in front of him on the ground, listening to the truly beautiful sounds. Ragnor had seemingly made peace with Chairman, who- and Magnus was really proud of him because of that – surprisingly hadn´t killed their momentary Christmas tree (Tree number seven, by the way) and was now talking with Catarina about some of their common adventures from the past. Izzy was joking with Trace who, Magnus had to notice, had only eyes for biscuit and Raphael and Simon were cuddling on the couch, discussing plans for their marriage. After all, Magnus hadn´t screwed it up and got them all killed so there was nothing standing in the way of their happily ever after anymore.  
And Alec, Alec was stepping beside him right now, putting his arm around his waist, pulling him closer beside him.   
“Looks like a perfect ending, don´t you think?”, he said, his blue eyes shimmering in the candlelight.  
“I would prefer to call it a perfect beginning.”, Magnus corrected, leaning forward to kiss him, soft and slow and promising. A promise for later in that night, when they were alone, a promise for a dark room and soft sheets and just the two of them, causing Alec to smile.  
He loved his smile. Loved him.  
He´d never expected that he would ever feel like that. That he would feel that kind of warmth in his chest. That he would feel so peaceful. He´d actually found what he was looking for when he´d arrived here in New York. And he found so much more as well. A place he considered home, people he called his family, a man he called his true love, and the sister he believed to be dead. But more than that: he found peace.

The end (?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that´s it: the end. Or maybe not? I was thinking about some kind of sequel… Like "a wedding and a funeral". A case that they have to solve during the Saphael wedding. My BF liked the idea, but what do you guys think?


End file.
